NC Shares More Details On Magical Girl RPG Astrae Oratio For TGS

Last Night, at the Tokyo Game Show, NC nvited attendees to test it’s upcoming turn-based magical girl anime RPG, Astrae Oratio, giving them a limited look at what the game has to offer. They also hosted a media preview where they discussed the game’s features and some of their plans.

Ahead of this, press was offered a chance to see the game in action and ask the game’s QA Lead Ren Ito and Associate Producer Jason Mok some questions. As with the demo at TGS, the demo was limited, but it did offer a glimpse at the game’s story and combat, as well as introducing some of the characters. And, it should be noted that there were several questions from those who took part that couldn’t be answered either because they would have required someone from a different department or because they were outside the scope of the material NC was willing to share with us this time.

So, here’s what we now know about the game. It’s set in a fictionalized Tokyo in ‘89, where magic is a thing. Players take on the role of a public official at the Special District office named “Shunin”… who also happens to be a cat. Or, at least they’re trapped in the body of a cat for unknown reasons. The organization Shunin works for oversees mages, a job that obviously requires a certain amount of combat readiness.

Players build teams of magical girls, each of which have their own special combat methods. Each character has their own unique weapon and, in addition to the standard skills and ultimates you’d expect from this kind of game, they also boast something called a “Dominion Skill”. This skill is like an ultimate in that the characters need to be able to trigger it. When they do, it will change the field, granting them advantages in combat. Based on the demo, these changes appeared to be primarily based on the character’s element.

As for how combat function, as we mentioned, it’s turn-based, but with a blend of real-time tactical decision making. Each round is made up of two phases: an action phase and an engage phase. In the action phase, players spend points and choose abilties based on the enemy plan being telegraphed with symbols under their health bar. These abilities will then be executed in the engage phase and the result determined. It should be noted that players won’t just stand there waiting for things to happen. Certain enemy actions can be countered in real-time, such as a pre-emptive attack. Enemies also have an uninterruptible attack players will have to learn to deal with.

While the bulk of the presentation focused on combat, we were shown a small bit of story content as well. This included an opening cutscene that, not surprisingly, read like the opening to a magical girl anime. It also offered us a look at the player’s character, Shunin. The game’s story is told through a combination of 3D cutscenes and 2D hand-drawn manga-style scenes.

We didn’t see anything outside the combat or the bit of story content offered, so I asked about the game’s world and whether it was explorable or not. Unfortunately, that’s one of the things that fell outside the scope of what was being shown, so they couldn’t give an answer.

My speculation, based on what I saw is that exploration will be limited with most of the story taking place in cutscenes and cinematics and the characters being dropped into small zones when its time for combat.

Another question that was asked a couple of times during the Q&A was whether or not the game would have Portuguese language support. The answer, not surprisingly, was no. There will be four languages supported a launch: English, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese. Speaking of launch, the game is slated to drop in 2027. Players can expect it to arrive on mobile devices first with a PC version coming later. Those interested in checking out the game sooner can apply to take part in the Closed Beta Test. Signups are open through September 20.